Toward a Bioregional State

Launched to provide an information service connected with _Toward a Bioregional State, the book; the blog is the commentary, your questions and my answers, and news from around the world related to the issues of sustainability and unsustainability in a running muse on various issues of concern or inspiration.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Local States Win To Stop Bush Desire for More Polluter Loopholes in Clean Air Law

The image above is from the National Geographic "Map Machine", with data by the World Wildlife Fund. It shows the areas considered "critical" in the US ecoregions on our present course by 2020. Of course another point would be that we fail to live in a vacuum--human health and economic issues are impaired by environmental things as well.

The point of today's post is the posted article below about the win against attempts to put even more loophole in the Clean Air Act (which is instead starting to look instead like the Polluters Appreciation Act). The outcome below is another example of the localism and sustainability: only institutionalizing more locality protections within a federal rubric will bring about sustainability. The whole dynamic of Toward a Bioregional State is along this line.

Affirming local states' environmental, health, and economic rights OVER the federal government is the only way to sustainability. Note that this was not a Democratic Party issue. Note that this was not a Republican issue. This was a local state protections issue attempting to maintain what their citizens wanted in terms of established and bipartisan accepted protections against a government and two-party system increasingly rogue that has nothing to do with democracy at all.

Another interesting point is that by bringing up the actual environmental and social costs of such choices of energy supply, it encourages providers to move to other choices, instead of increasingly subsidizing themselves and outselves into a cancer hole of oblivion...

A difficulty is that this was resolved in the court framework, i.e., it all depended upon the whim of a judge. Within the bioregional state, as mentioned in a previous post, the federal government would be without any form of priority of jurisdiction over health or environmental issues per se. Certainly they could set standards, and be a citizen's recourse to police against corruption on a state level standard, though the issue is one of priority. It is mistaken for a federal government to utilize "standards" as an interpretation of a glass ceiling instead of a foundation. Using "standards" as a glass ceiling is only aimed at demoting local desires for making their own states more sustainable, when standards should only be lower level foundational instead of a form of enforced upper bounded uniformity. From a previous post on a similar issue of labelling:

"Consumer rights shall always trump supply side rights of organizations and sellers when it comes to any of the issues of (a) basic knowledge about the commodity; (b) the capacity for discriminative choice from the point of view of the consumer which shall be maintained; (c) when it comes to issues of individual and public health, (d) of ecological interactive effects, and (e) of economic sustainability.

In issues of human health, ecological issues, and economic sustainability, the smaller jurisdictional level has more awareness, knowledge, and interest in these endeavors; therefore jurisdictional sovereignty of smaller jurisdiction over the larger state should be the uniform principle in these issues of material commodity regulation."

Of course one of the theoretical dangers of this is that states will force on their populations lower standards than the federal government in health or envrionmental laws. However, this has hardly been the case. Typically, first, states have always been at the forefront of aiding human health and environmental concerns against an unresponsive larger federal level. Thus states with jurisdictional priority within federal foundational standards (instead of glass ceiling standards) I think is a better principle to bring about toward sustainbility, in the bioregional state.

Second, moreover, this fails to mean the removal of a larger state, which would be useful for citizens to take their more local state to court over such malfeisance. The larger state is a recourse in affirming various more bioregionally specific areas with their own interests as a priority jurisdictionally in certain areas OVER the federal government, with the federal government being a backup recourse to support bioregional sustainability. As mentioned in some of the quotes of the bioregional state book, others would agree like Wil Burns, Editor in Chief for the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, who opined:

"I think [some] folks...believe that "bioregionalism" means hiding under rocks and ignoring the impact of national political decision making on local biospheres, think again. For example, one of the leading bioregional lights, David McClosky, concludes: 'Massive ecosystem conservation proposals can play a very significant role [in the restoration of natural ecosystems, as well as human health and economic issues.] This is necessarily beyond cavil that the Chief Executive can exert a tremendous amoung of influence. Thus, to dismiss who will be essing executive orders on environmental issues, and passing on legislation, is to ignore an integral issue for everyone who embraces bioregionalism. Thus, I think discussion of national political issues is wholly germane.'" [Toward a Bioregional State, p. 22]

This gets back to the definition I helped to craft at Wikipedia on the bioregional state: the bioregional state fails to mean that social frameworks of larger federal/nation-state laws are trumped, only that environmental and health concerns take more local jurisdictional priority:

"Bioregional democracy (or the Bioregional State) is a set of electoral reforms designed to force the political process in a democracy to better represent concerns about the economy, the body, and environmental concerns (e.g., water quality), toward developmental paths that are locally prioritized and tailored to different areas for their own specific interests of sustainability and durability. This movement is variously called bioregional democracy, watershed cooperation, or bioregional representation, or one of various other similar names--all of which denote democratic control of a natural commons and local jurisdictional dominance in any economic developmental path decisions--while not removing more generalized civil rights protections of a larger national state." [1]

Locals Win Against Feds: Judges Overturn Bush Bid to Ease Pollution Rules By Michael Janofsky The New York Times

Saturday 18 March 2006

Washington - A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a clean-air regulation issued by the Bush administration that would have let many power plants, refineries and factories avoid installing costly new pollution controls to help offset any increased emissions caused by repairs and replacements of equipment.

Ruling in favor of a coalition of states and environmental advocacy groups, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the "plain language" of the law required a stricter approach. The court has primary jurisdiction in challenges to federal regulations.

The ruling by a three-judge panel was the court's second decision in less than a year in a pair of closely related cases involving the administration's interpretations of a complex section of the Clean Air Act. Unlike its ruling last summer, when the court largely upheld the E.P.A.'s approach against challenges from industry, state governments and environmental groups, the new ruling was a defeat for the agency and for industry, and a victory for the states and their environmentalist allies.

In the earlier case, a panel including two of the three judges who ruled on Friday decided that the agency had acted reasonably in 2002, when it issued a rule changing how pollution would be measured, effectively loosening the strictures on companies making changes to their equipment and operations.

But on Friday, the court said the agency went too far in 2003 when it issued a separate new rule that opponents said would exempt most equipment changes from environmental reviews - even changes that would result in higher emissions.

With a wry footnote to Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," the court said that "only in a Humpty-Dumpty world" could the law be read otherwise.

"We decline such a world view," said their unanimous decision, written by Judge Judith W. Rogers, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. Judges David Tatel, another Clinton appointee, and Janice Rogers Brown, a recent Bush appointee, joined her.

The winners this time - more than a dozen states, including New York and California and a large group of environmental organizations - hailed the decision as one of their most important gains in years of litigation, regulation and legal challenges under the Clean Air Act.

The provision of the law at issue, the "new source review" section, governs the permits required at more than 1,300 coal-fueled power plants around the country and 17,000 factories, refineries and chemical plants that spew millions of tons of pollution into the air each year.

"This is an enormous victory over the concerted efforts by the Bush administration to dismantle the Clean Air Act," Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, whose office led the opposition from the states, said in an interview.

Mr. Spitzer, who is running for governor, said the ruling "shows that the administration's effort to misinterpret and undermine the statute is illegal."

Howard Fox, a lawyer for Earth Justice, which represented six environmental and health groups in the case, called the ruling "a victory for public health," adding, "It makes no sense to allow huge multimillion-dollar projects that drastically increase air pollution without installing up-to-date pollution controls."

The E.P.A. issued only a brief statement, saying: "We are disappointed that the court did not find in favor of the United States. We are reviewing and analyzing the opinion."

The decision is unlikely to be the last word; several circuit courts or appeals courts have considered or decided related cases, and the issue may eventually reach the Supreme Court. Some in Congress say the uncertainty demands an overhaul of the Clean Air Act itself, but there has been no real movement in that direction in recent years.

The new ruling addressed the administration's effort in 2003 to offer relief to energy companies that faced costly settlements of litigation brought by President Clinton's E.P.A. The agency proposed exemptions for companies whenever upgrades to their equipment amounted to less than 20 percent of the replacement cost of the equipment. In effect, that made perennial repairs of old equipment a more attractive alternative in many cases than its outright replacement.

Energy companies said the two rules the administration proposed in 2002 and 2003 would help them expand energy supplies at lower cost to consumers. But environmentalists said the change would result in just the kind of increased pollution that the law was intended to control.

The Clean Air Act calls for companies to build plants with up-to-date control technologies, and the new source provision was a way to ensure that as time goes by, pollution controls must be modernized along with the plants themselves.

Industry groups, which had challenged the first E.P.A. rule last year as not being flexible enough, were aligned with the agency this time. In general, they have been close partners with the Bush administration in environmental matters, pushing for greater economic considerations in the creation of any new policy.

The 20 percent threshold in the overturned rule would have enabled plant operators to make many repairs and upgrades without spending additional tens of millions of dollars for more advanced pollution controls. In settlements under the old rules, some companies faced costs of more than $100 million.

"This is a terrible decision," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a trade organization, arguing that the "any physical change" definition created financial instability for plant operators who spent as much as $800 million for a new boiler.

He and other industry leaders expressed hope that the court ruling might induce Congress to pass new legislation that would include New Source Review; a step that he said would make it easier for plant operators to plan for their future upgrades and investments.

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, called the ruling "a significant setback to business efficiency" and environmental quality.

The government has 45 days to decide whether to seek a review of the ruling by the entire appeals court.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

POLLS: "When in the Course of Human Events,..." The Majority is With Us for Leaving the Neocon Desert

What if they held a government and no one came?

This is a wake up call: We are the majority, the opinion polls prove it, the NeoCon Government is lying to the people in an attempt to mask their insane Straussian lust for domination, control, wealth and power and the people know it. This is the summary: the links are below.

The figures clearly show that their gatekept frameworks of democracy has failed us with Bush's rating currently at an all time low of 34% and Blair's rating even lower at 28%. In fact Blair would not even have won a third term in power if the voting system were the same as in the US. So there's a Prime Minister in power who the majority of the country did not actually vote for. Incidentally, Dick Cheney is also currently less popular than OJ Simpson.

This indicates a massive distrust in Government in this country. Once again on every major issue the population is directly opposed to the authorities.

Yet still there is no independent inquiry into 9/11 and the hardcore evidence is being swept away for good.

Finally, the recent proposed sale of the ports to Dubai has seen overwhelming opposition in the opinion polls, yet Bush has said there will be no re-consideration. [Congress supposedly is moving against it, who can say though. Someone will likey be bought off.]

In the UK, biometric ID cards are to be forcibly introduced in 2008 despite polls show upwards of 80% opposition.

The War in Iraq is deeply unpopular and the inside job perpetrated on 7/7/06 with the London underground bombings has backfired with 85% of British people directly blaming the government's involvement in the war.

A Gallup Poll, conducted in late January, revealed that just 39% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling Iraq, with 58% disapproving. The figure dropped slightly in February, yet still 55% believe the war to be a "mistake".

Over half (53%) now say the administration "deliberately misled the American public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."

On the topic of domestic surveillance of American citizens 52% say that the war on terror does not justify surveillance.

56% of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll said the government should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications are believed to be tied to terrorism.

On the issue of the 9/11 attacks, a CNN poll revealed that a staggering 89% believed there was a cover up in operation.

Furthermore, a Zogby poll showed that the majority of New Yorkers believe the Government itself carried out 9/11!

Despite this Blair has pushed forward with draconian anti-terror legislation that calls for detention without trial for up to 90 days. Only around 20% of voters are in favour of this....

What does all this tell us about our Governments? We know they are criminals, we do not trust them and we do not agree with anything they do....

So the big questions--like the big questions talked about in Toward A Bioregional State--are how and what would you do to replace this "in the course of Human Events?" Read the link.

Government: Neither By the People Nor For the PeopleOn almost every major issue people are opposed to Bush and Blair

*Steve Watson | March 8 2006 *

A spate of different opinion polls within the last few months or so has revealed that on almost every major issue the people of the United States and the people of Britain, in the majority are directly opposed to the actions of their governments.

Despite this the Bush and Blair governments continually cite the backing of the people in their respective countries and argue that they are nurturing freedom and Democracy at home and around the world.

The major issue is still the ongoing war in Iraq. Back to front, top to bottom, left to right, any way you look at it, the majority of people now believe that the war was based on a pack of lies and are directly opposed to its continuation.

*A Gallup Poll* , conducted in late January, revealed that just 39% of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling Iraq, with 58% disapproving. The figure dropped slightly in February, yet still 55% believe the war to be a "mistake".

Over half (53%) now say the administration "*deliberately misled* the American public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."

Gallup noted that it had asked this question about other wars involving the United States, "and only the Vietnam War engendered more public opposition than the current Iraq War. " The peak opposition to the Vietnam conflict was 61%. That figure for the generally unpopular Korean War was 51%.

Almost 2500 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 16,800 troops have been injured.

According to a poll by the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute. *47.8 per cent of respondents * think the U.S. should pull out of Iraq now whilst a lesser 44% disagree.

Even within the military support for Bush, and for the war in Iraq, "has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military's professional core." According to a *Military Times poll * the approval of the president's Iraq policy fell 9% from 2004; a bare majority, 54%, now says they view his performance on Iraq favorably.

Yet, according to a Zogby Poll this month, a massive * 72% of troops want withdrawal from Iraq *. The poll is the first of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq, according to John Zogby, the pollster. Conducted by Zogby International and LeMoyne College, it asked 944 service members, "How long should U.S. troops stay in Iraq?"

Only 23 percent backed Bush's position that they should stay as long as necessary. of the 72 percent that said that U.S. troops should be pulled out within one year, 29 percent said they should withdraw "immediately...".

Yet still we are relentless told by the Government and the corporate media that the view of the American people is one of overall support. Activists such as Cindy Sheehan are being *repeatedly arrested * for nothing more than peaceful protest against the war when it is plain to see that her views are in line with those of the majority of American people AND the majority of American troops.

NeoCon Media scumbags like Rush Limbaugh continually equate Sheehan with some kind of *dangerous and radical Left Wing movement * (listen to the MP3) when they are simply expressing the views of most American people.

/LIMBAUGH: I mean, Cindy Sheehan is just Bill Burkett. Her story is nothing more than forged documents. There's nothing about it that's real, including the mainstream media's glomming onto it. It's not real. It's nothing more than an attempt. It's the latest effort made by the coordinated left. - From the August 15 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show/

On the topic of domestic surveillance of American citizens *52% say that the war on terror does not justify surveillance. *

*56% of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll* said the government should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications are believed to be tied to terrorism.

Yet the president has vowed that domestic surveillance of Americans' phone calls and Internet messages without warrants will continue despite the fact that it is ILLEGAL and it violates federal wiretap laws.

We even have *Bush himself on video * explaining how such procedures are against the law without court orders.

Furthermore, the Justice Department has said it is investigating the leak of information regarding the top-secret surveillance program, i.e. they are saying that the truth should have never come out and they should have carried on covertly spying on American people.

*A majority of 52%* even feel that Bush should be Impeached over the issue, according to a January Zogby poll. The majority of the country wants Bush impeached. Yet this information seems to be irrelevant to the Bush administration. Alberto Gonzales went as far as to claim that *George Washington used electronic surveillance * on the American people.

Once more we see how the Government has been usurped by criminals and is being used against the people of this country to take away their freedoms.

On the issue of the 9/11 attacks, a CNN poll revealed that a staggering *89% believed there was a cover up * in operation.

Furthermore, a Zogby poll showed that *the majority of New Yorkers believe the Government itself carried out 9/11! *

Despite this, our efforts to uncover the inconsistencies and shed light on the truth behind the September 11th attacks is endlessly attacked by the mainstream media as the work of demented crackpot "conspiracy theorists".

Are nearly 30% of registered Republicans and over 38% of those who described themselves as "very conservative" crackpots too? Are they all whacked out crazies?

A *recent Village voice * *article* [spin article planted there to distract] even went as far as to suggest that the 9/11 truth movement was akin to an almost evangelical orthodoxy with ties to Neo-Nazi organizations!

This is a wake up call: We are the majority, the opinion polls prove it, the NeoCon Government is lying to the people in an attempt to mask their insane Straussian lust for domination, control, wealth and power and the people know it.

Yet still there is no independent inquiry into 9/11 and the hardcore evidence is being swept away for good.

Finally, the recent proposed sale of the ports to Dubai has seen* overwhelming opposition * in the opinion polls, yet Bush has said there will be no re-consideration.

Over here in the UK biometric ID cards are to be forcibly introduced in 2008 despite the fact that continually polls show *upwards of 80% opposition to the policy. *

The War in Iraq is deeply unpopular and the *inside job * perpetrated on 7/7 with the London underground bombings has backfired with *85% of British people * directly blaming the government's involvement in the war.

It was expected that people would simply fold and beg for protection in the form of a crackdown on civil liberties and enhanced security laws. In fact the opposite has occurred with a vicious backlash being directed at the Blair Government.

Despite this Blair has pushed forward with draconian anti-terror legislation that calls for detention without trial for up to 90 days. *Only around 20% of voters are in favour * of this and still the Government presses ahead to pass it. Democracy in action I guess.

With regards to cover ups and inquiries in this country, it was recently revealed that an unbelievable* 94% of Brits *believe there is a government cover up in the case of Princess Diana's death. Despite the public view and the *mountains of evidence * to suggest murder, the Official police Inquiry has concluded it was* simply an accident. *

Similarly, the suicide of *Dr David Kelly * in 2003 has garnered the belief among British people that a massive cover up has taken place. The Hutton Inquiry is widely believed to be a Government whitewash with *56% of the public *believing Kelly was murdered and that the truth has been hidden.

This indicates a massive distrust in Government in this country. Once again on every major issue the population is directly opposed to the authorities.

The approval ratings of Bush and Blair and those around them are the final nail in the coffin for our so called democracies in the US and Britain.

The figures clearly show that democracy has failed us with Bush's rating currently at an* all time low of 34% * and *Blair's rating *even lower at 28%. In fact Blair would not even have won a third term in power if the voting system over here were the same as in the US. So we have a Prime Minister in power who the majority of the country did not actually vote for. Incidentally, Dick Cheney is also currently *less popular than OJ Simpson .*

What does all this tell us about our Governments? We know they are criminals, we do not trust them and we do not agree with anything they do and WE are representative of the majority of people in the US and the UK.

About Me

A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.